Baylor blasts Iowa for NIT title

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Pierre Jackson totaled 17 points and 10
assists to lead Baylor over Iowa, 74-54, in the National Invitation Tournament
title game for the first postseason championship in school history.

Baylor also became the first Big 12 school to win the NIT by hitting 54 percent from the field and holding Iowa to 27 percent shooting.

Cory Jefferson scored a game-high 23 points, while Isaiah Austin had 15 with
nine rebounds for the second-seeded Bears (23-14), who lost their only other
NIT title game against Penn State in 2009.

Iowa (25-13), playing in its first NIT title game, was led by Aaron White's 12
points. Roy Devyn Marble, who averaged 24.3 points in the first four games of
the tourney, shot just 3-of-12 from the field for a mere six points for the
third-seeded Hawkeyes.

Iowa's only lead came on the game's opening basket, as Baylor scored the next
nine points and went into the break holding a 27-22 cushion.

The Hawkeyes clawed within one, 28-27, early in the second half, but the Bears
countered with a 14-4 run that Jackson capped with a 3-pointer.

Jackson hit again from long range near the midway point for a 49-34 advantage,
then fed Jefferson for a thunderous dunk to give the Bears a healthy 21-point
lead that was never threatened down the stretch.